ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq claimed on Thursday that the relations between the United States and Pakistan have improved considerably.

Sadiq made the remark after chairing an in-camera meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on the National Security. While replying to queries of media persons the speaker informally stated that Pakistan and USA ties have gotten better.

The ties between the two countries had deteriorated at the start of the current year when US President Donald Trump, in a tweet, had threatened to cut aid to Pakistan for allegedly lying to the US and offering “little help” in hunting “terrorists” in Afghanistan.

To a question whether all the participants of the meeting had been satisfied with the briefing the speaker stated that in his opinion no one had any reservations with it. He said the basic purpose of the meeting was to review the situation with regard to national security of the country.

The in-camera meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security was held at Parliament House in Islamabad with Ayaz Sadiq in the chair.

The members of the committee were briefed on current issues of national security and related matters. The meeting was attended by the Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Syed Naveed Qamar, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Mehmood Aachakzai, Aftab Sherpao and other parliamentary leaders of the Senate and the National Assembly.

The meeting was also attended by DG Military Operations Major General Sahir Shamshad, National Security Adviser Nasser Khan Janjua, Advisor to PM on Finance and high officials from the Defence and Foreign Ministry.

According to sources the officials briefed the parliamentary leaders only after they were assured that the details of the meeting would not be leaked to the media.

The participants of the meeting after attending the meeting avoided talking to media persons.

Many members of the committee including the opposition leader Khursheed Shah, when asked about the details of the meeting, said that as the meeting was in-camera only the speakers would talk to the media.